Gordon Brown moved quickly to deny any political damage, saying: "It is the people who decide elections." But on one occasion the prime minister was clearly tested, tearing at his ear piece when he made an irritated and overly hasty departure from one TV interview, prompting aides to clarify later it had not been an angry "walkout".

Tony Woodley, joint leader of the Unite union, was cheered as he used a speech to the conference hall to rip up a copy of that morning's edition, while Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman told the conference hall Labour would not be "bullied" by the paper.

Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, told News International's chief executive, Rebekah Brooks, on the phone on Tuesday night: "You will be regarded as a bunch of chumps, we will not lose sleep over this." Earlier reports said Mandelson had used an expletive beginning with C, but Brooks is said to have rung the business secretary to confirm he called her a "chump".

What a fucking headbanger Brown is in that Boulton interview.The same robotic shit we've all become so acustomed to,but with an ending that shows why the country hates the cunt.He's fucking nuts and he's lost the plot.( if he ever got the plot to begin with ).I've never hated a politician more than I hate this pant-pissing cyclops...and believe me,I fucking hated Blair.

From the Daily Fail Labour wants to stop drinkers having more than a pint of beer a day – sparking fresh accusations that it is out of touch with ordinary Britons.

More from the Fail We're aloof and out of touch, says senior Tory MP DAVID DAVIS, who warns: 'Stay that way, and we'll lose election'
Weird, they know the correct answer, but refuse to allow themselves to acknowledge reality.